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I'm a danish lover of a good bad movie, and i was amazed and overjoyed to see Reptilicus on the list here. Even with a good review!!!

As a dane, i have som additional info on this flick, that might interest you, if you've seen it.

First of all, there are actually 2 different versions of this movie. One with danish language, and one with english.

They where shot at the same time, first doing one scene in danish, then in english.

The people that where to buy if for the international market, thought the "danglish" sounding english in the movie, was so horrible, that they did a dubbing of it (apparently they still thought the movie was good enough to buy!?)

Here is a quote from the review:
"Peterson - Autistic Neanderthal dressed in overalls, where did they get this guy? "

Ill tell you where!!! He's probably the greatest danish comedian that ever lived. He is a legend in Denmark. Even tho he was mostly unfunny in Reptilicus, he was an extremely talented comedian, that seriously everyone in Denmark knows and loves.

Most of the cast in Reptilicus, where extremely popular at the time, so it's not a B movie in that sense at all. This was simply the best acting Denmark had to offer at that time!

Also, the green slime over the film, is NOT featured in the english version.

The worst part about the english version is, that some of the best worst clips where cut out!!!

Someone was kind enough to post my favourite scene on youtube. The song is about how reptilicus ("tilicus!") is so dangerous that he could scare even a dead herring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O03vX6toFbo

I can post a full translation if someone is interested. I hope people here have seen and enjoyed this gem. It's the danish movie i take most pride in, and i'm really happy that it's featured on this exellent site!

Oh. My. God.  :buggedout:

I have a real soft spot for Reptilicus and Dirch Passer. I saw it a zillion times as a kid and love it to this day, despite all the cheesiness.

I heard that in the Danish version, the monster actually flew. Is that true?

Yes!!! Completely true, that. It was cut out, because, unbeliavable as it may sound, it looked even less convincing than the rest of the special effects.

To be precise, there are 3 things of interest that were cut out.

1: The brilliant singing number that i linked to on youtube

2: Flying sequence

3: A romance between 2 of the characteres was also cut out for some reason


It's such a shame that the singing number was cut out. It was the part that did it for me.

The absurdity of this movie can only really be grasped if you are danish. The only movies that had been produced in Denmark up till then, where either very artistic (Carl TH. Dreyer, and there where few of those) or comedies or dramas that took place on a farm, that always had a happy ending. How this movie suddenly came to be, is such a mystery. Some producer in Denmark apparently saw godzilla or something, and wanted to do something similar.

Also, the other music act, in Tivoli (one of Denmarks biggest tourist attractions) is completely out of context, and is probably only there to enhance danish tourism!

To this date, it is the only monster film produced in Denmark EVER!

I'm glad people are having fun with it outside Denmark!

*watches youtube clip*

Wow... the cheesiness factor just went up about three points on that film... but yeah, I kind of like Reptilicus in spite of the monster FX, which are really my only complaint with the film. I;d heard about the cut flying scene and I'm not sure if I want to ever see such fottage or leave it to my imagination as to what it may have looked like....

I think I'd like to see Reptilicus go up against Varan the Unbelievable :P

I finally signed up to this board. I've been checking out badmovies.org for ages, but i had no idea that the messageboard was this active.

And theres a really positive vibe here, that i really like.

About not seeing something, to destroy your inner vision of it, i can really relate to that.

I recently bought Robocop 1-3. It was the first scary movie i saw, so my memory of it, was very intense. When i saw it again, i could suddenly see all its flaws, and it was different from how i remembered it.

Welcome aboard Viktorcrayon.

I have wanted to see the alternate version of "Reptilicus" for a long time, but have not made too much of an effort to find a copy.  Heck, I was quite happy when MGM released the DVD and it was a great quality version compared to the VHS I had been watching.

You know, this would be a good film for a treatment like "Invasion of the Animal People" and "Terror in the Midnight Sun" was given.  You could have a DVD of "Reptilicus" with a version on each side. 

I had heard that Peterson was a very funny and accomplished comedian.  Unfortunately, it does not come out at all in this film.  The effect would be the same as having Bill Crosby in "Deanzilla," if you can imagine that.

We are lucky in having a great bunch who post here.  Also, the amount of knowledge on this board is staggering.  Whether you want to know about westerns, classic science fiction, or splatter films - we often find out that someone has an answer.

Look out for Menard though, he is a sneaky one.

Brilliant. Thank you!

I frequent another messageboard, (www.xltronic.com/mb) and the vibe there, is completely different. It's about electronic music, but people there are mostly b***hing or sarcastic.

This seems much more welcoming!


I have to admit, that I'm extremely suprised how well known this movie is. But i suppose i'm posting in the right forum   :cheers:

It's not difficult to obtain the danish version here, but it's doesnt have any subtitles  :thumbdown:.

It's not extremely expensive tho. 100DK (15 dollars or something)


The Peterson character, Dirch Passer, WAS an extremely talented comedian. He had Andy Kaufmann glimpses of brilliance, brilliant physical comedy,and some weird combination of being both very loud, and very subtle. I seriously doubt you could find any danish person that does not like him.

He's unfunny in Reptilicus, because he was more or less forced into the project, because every movie that had him in it, people would see.

He died on stage in 1980.

Also, Reptilicus was completely hated by every reviewer at that time. At the place that produced the movie, if anyone as much as mentioned it, they had to buy beers for the rest of the crew (a rule that applied for several years after!!!).

It was apparently much better recieved in the USA, and had succes in Drive ins.

One more thing. The same dude was kind enough to post the flying scene!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIlLhNTNr-w

Wow. :buggedout:

I never thought that I would ever see that.

Thanks for the link. :thumbup:

By the way Viktorcrayon, your English is excellent.  From my experience, they do a fantastic job of teaching second languages to children in Europe.  By and large, the United States is screwing the pooch with second language proficiency.

Hey, anyone else want to learn Esperanto?  (Great idea, but it never caught on.)

Thank you Viktorcrayon, Reptillicus has always been a favorite of mine, I just watched all the youtube videos, now I have this sudden urge to watch the whole movie. The new information about the movie will add a lot to my enjoyment, thanks again.

Thats because you don't NEED to learn anything else, i suppose. Danish, as you can probably tell from those clips, is an extremely difficult and obscure language. We are only 5 million people. If you did not know anything else, it would be difficult to cope in the world.

I've had english tuition since 3'rd grade, but I can really only thank movies, computer games and the internet for my english.


It has been my pleasure to write about this stuff.

I love that movie!

Part of the fondness for Reptilicus in the US probably springs from clips of it being used as the go to "monster movie on the TV" in the background in lots of movies and TV shows here.

Andrew's right, second language education does get mostly short shrift here in the US. But many school systems only require it as part of an "advanced" or"academic" high school diploma program for graduation, and offer few choices in languages. Spanish has increasing usefulness here (trying to avoid opening big can of worms on that one) and French lessons for young children is often a joking stereotype of young middle class/social climbing parents who enroll their kids in lots of activities. My cousin took Latin to help prep him for his pre-med school plans. He said it helped a little but calls it a waste now. During his residencies, he deals with lots of accident victims and patients who don't speak English, and he says that another living language would serve him much better, preferably Spanish.

Andrew if you learn Esperanto, you could make complete sense of the William Shatner classic Incubus, but that not much of a reason to learn it at this point. I used to love to read Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books, where Esperanto was the default universal language of humans across the various worlds they lived on, he often included an afterword about the language with contact info for Esperanto societies. The idea seems almost quaint now.

The thing that made me laugh out loud re. the flying scene was the fact that the anti-aircraft gun is set up right beside the statue of The Little Mermaid!!
In Copenhagen harbour!!  NOT a military area at all, to put it mildly --
The only possible reason for this would be to get The Little Mermaid in the film, because it is so quintessetially Danish!!!
I mean, damn!  What if a spent shell were to have ejected and . . . decapitated her!!!
Victorkrayon will tell you that is a beyond-silly set choice --
peter dumbfounded/denny WTF?

It's so true. It's hilarious!!! The little mermaid, i might add, is probably the most overrated tourist attraction in the history of time. It's just a small little statue, near water. 100m away, theres this really cool fountain, with a woman in a chariot thats lead by bulls, thats mostly ignored.

In fact, i thought about this, theres nothing much to see in Denmark, if you want attractions.
Denmark is all about cycling down to the docks on a summer day and drinking beer all day, and checking out girls.

But anyway, the whole movie seems to do that. Show of really "danish" things. Pretty girls, Little Mermaid, Tivoli. They should have made some shots of someone playing with Lego, then it would have been perfect.

Also, one of the key scenes are on "Rådhuspladsen" wich is also one of the most central places in Copenhagen.

It's really a tourist movie/godzilla clone .

Pretty girls and Lego, now I feel the need to visit Denmark.

My doors are open   :cheers:

That's it. I'm moving over there.  :teddyr:

*watches youtube flying scene*

Ooooh yeah, my imagination gave them a LOT more credit than they deserved... I suddenly miss Mothra. *shrugs* Oh well...

Hi Viktorcrayon,

Fond memories of Denmark, specifically Copenhagen.  Yes, we visited the Little Mermaid statue, but I also DO remember the lady with the bulls fountain you described.  I think I have a picture of it somewhere.  Anyway, Copenhagen stands out as one of the most friendly European cities I have visited.  (It was helped, of course, of following Rome and Paris, so we had nowhere to go but UP).  I spent the most time in Germany (a total of about 5 weeks, spread over two trips), but always thought if I ever go back, Copenhagen would be on my list of places to re-visit.

And you should get paid by your tourism board for remark about heading to the docks and checking out girls ... I think every (eh, non-married??) guy that reads this board is starting to save money for a trip to Denmark.

Hah!  :thumbup:

Thats brilliant.

It's just basically my favourite part about this country (and scandinavia really) there just seems to be an insale huge amount of cute and loose girls. It's not really something you can market like an Eiffel tover you  know... haha.

Should get paid? Considering how enticing he made Copenhagen and Denmark sound in those last few posts I'm convinced he's already on the payroll and doing a hell of a job.

And never mind the Eiffel Tower, some things, like cute and loose girls with accents, market themselves.

(http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi/reptilicus.jpg)

Heheh. Yeah i guess i'm sort of on the payroll, since tourism is one of the things that keeps us going.  :twirl:

I feel i should post some things that suck about Denmark, so i don't look as dubious.

*High taxes (40-50% depending on how much you earn, and some other factors)
*Weather SUCKS in the wintertime. Mostly gray and rain, only rarely som nice snow.
*You have to be 18 to get a drivers license (well... i'm 22 and i havent got mine yet but a lot of people b***h about this!)
*Movies aren't cheap, wich makes my addiction a bit more annoying

Brilliant that you posted that poster, Scott.

Why on earth does it look like golden gate bridge?

Try checking out the danish version
http://www.monstrula.de/filme/reptilicus/daenemarkplakat.jpg

Very different. It had the distinct style of that time period. If you try scrolling trough this page
http://www.ddposters.com/poster/movie_danish.asp

You can see that it's very similiar to a lot of the stuff that was also produced in that time. Only, they were comedies, or banal dramas!

Me and my two boys were watching this on TV a couple years back,and they thought I was ouuuuut of my mind,cuz I lovedit! "Jeez dad,this is stupid! It sucks!"
"What?! Are you kidding? This is super cool! Check out the cool green stuff he spits ou!"
The American General guy is so hyper! He's my favorite charecter in the movie! Like super macho hawk type.And how the actor could keep a straight face was beyond me! A TRUE Bad Movie classic!

Ouch.  I knew that taxes over in Europe tend to be higher than ours in the US, but ouch.


Oh, I think that is from the deleted scene were Reptilicus attacks San Francisco.  You know, that is something you do not see of much in American films - monsters attacking various cities.  Godzilla and Gamera films spread the love out some, but in America it seems like we go for New York with our big monsters. 

It is an insalely high tax. But there is some benefits tho.
100% Free health care and education.

Harryhausen was pretty diverse>he had the Ymir attack Rome in 20 Millon Miles to Earth.the octopus attack SF in It Came from Beneath the Sea,and though no giant monster ,DC in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. But NYC is a big city,which calls for a big monster.

:buggedout:Oh...My...Ghod!! And i thought Mothra and Rodan spent too much time glideing!

Truth is , i love this flick.
I did an actual Riffing script for this one.Around 650 jokes! Talk about a target rich environment!

A hero that looks like a constipated bulldog, proof that rednecks can breed anywere ( Peterson...sorry, dude), duleing enginues ( The profs daughters), and , of corse, the ugliest sock puppet of all time! Oliver J. Dragons evil twin! ( Lets see you young bucks catch that referance! Hah!) Whats not to love?

I had a ball riffing this movie, and i offer no appologies.
The worlds greatest cheese Danish, REPTILICUS!
And velcomen to the new boy!
Stick around, and enjoy!

Ahh.. the Danes did have A panash in  making A "Fine looking Monster" for this cheesy Flick.....
And I Loved every minute of it! :thumbup:

I too am a big of the world's only Denmark stomping reptile and if the offer is still open, I was wondering if you could translate the "Tilicus" song from Reptilicus.

I am writing up a comprehensive review of the novelization of Reptilicus at http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=14512&pid=556352&mode=threaded&show=&st=& (http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=14512&pid=556352&mode=threaded&show=&st=&)

I am nearing the end of my review and I would really like to be able to post the lyrics to the song in one of my final posts.

Sure!!! It's my pleasure!

Here's me trying my best:

TI LI CUS is one heck of a fable animal
He'd take up a fight with even the biggest Snabeldyr (Snabeldyr= an animal with a trunk... yeah, it's weird)
It's insane!
spits fire!
even scares a dead herring!

Chorus (with the girls)

Come on out
little cutie
Who's afraid of tilicus?

on it's back, it has a lot of big pointy things
when it comes, everyone yells goodbye
sharp claws
wing span of at least a kilometer

Chorus

he who sees Tilicus, will get a shock
when he walks, he dances a slow rock
it's insane
unusual
eats people from the fifth floor

Chorus

Tilicus can fly as fast as a jet
LOOK AT THAT! It's braking down with a twitch! (pointing to the air)
That was a joke, thank god for that
you better run before it goes on a spree


I just looked this over... It's truly bizarre!